St Mirren 3
Dundee 0
League Cup (3rd Round)

Match Report

Nine-man Dundee bowed out of the CIS Insurance Cup in yet another 90 minutes of red-card misery at Love Street last night.

The Dens Park side's disciplinary black marks continue to mount at an alarming rate with both Patrizio Billio and Lee Wilkie sent off, and among their bookings four yellow cards for Barry Smith, Fabian Caballero, Steven Tweed and Alessandro Romano were all inside the first 15 minutes.

And player/boss Ivano Bonetti was also yellow-carded near the end after giving his views to a linesman.

The dejected and bemused Dens boss admitted last night. "I am looking to God."

He added, "Billio is most upset. I know he was late in the tackle but I would like to see it on television. And I also want a look at the first booking which was for Barry Smith. What I can say is that I will go to bed tonight with a clear conscience.

"What can we do-we try to play football. We were coping well but it is difficult to play 60 minutes with 10 men and 30 minutes with nine."

But Bonetti would not be drawn on any outspoken comments about referee Tom Brown even though most observers felt his judgment at times was harsh.

But that was not shared by the St Mirren boss Tom Hendrie. He said, "The referee was correct in every decision but it was not a dirty game. It was isolated incidents."

But the Dark Blues had some cause to feel disgruntled. Even though the referee also booked the Buddies' Hugh Murray and Jens Paeslack, for much of the time it seemed his control of the game was less than even handed.

He surely made a rod for his own back when he needlessly flashed the yellow card at Dens defender Barry Smith for a foul after only eight minutes, when a word in his ear at the most seemed all that was required.

That approach forced the referee into the quick-fire cautions in the next few minutes.

In addition, it seemed a harsh decision by Brown when he red-carded Italian midfielder Billio for a lunging tackle on Barry McLaughlin in 34 minutes-a yellow card would surely have been sufficient.

However, there is no doubt the Dark Blues management team will have to get a hold of their players and get them to realise that they are in a different environment with Scottish referees if the Dens side are to get any success this season.

Wilkie, having already been booked, needlessly ran into a St Mirren defender when he had already lost possession and that just asked for the referee to send him off.

Yet, despite a bright opening from the Paisley outfit, it was Dundee who came close to the opener in 17 minutes when a long- range drive from striker Juan Sara almost caught out Buddies keeper Ludovic Roy who, at the last minute, managed to turn the ball round the post.

And in the next attack Sara again came close with an overhead shot.

But Dens keeper Robert Douglas had to be alert in 36 minutes to deny a fierce attempt from Paeslack.

The Dark Blues had brought on Gavin Rae for Sara to add some resilience in midfield, but this in turn blunted the visitors' attacking threat.

It was no surprise when the home side took the lead a minute into the second half when Scott Walker headed in a corner.

Dundee relied on quick forays up front and a Steven Tweed effort was headed away from the line.

But in 61 minutes, Buddies' substitute Tom Brown hit the second.

And with just three minutes to go, Paeslack out paced the Dundee defence and cut inside to send a left foot shot behind keeper Douglas for a third.

Match report written by The Courier